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Welcome to a new year of English 12. This blog will be the place to find class updates, PDFs of assignments and handouts, and tips for success in English 12.

We are beginning the year by looking at several pieces of literature with similar themes. We will spend some time learning techniques and writing formats that I would like you to know for this year. Sometimes what we are doing or discussing will seem “easy” at this stage, and that’s ok – if it’s easy, then it means it’s familiar to you. Just remember a couple of things – this is English class so things like grammar, spelling, punctuation, and legibility ALWAYS count, you will make more work for yourself if you don’t meet deadlines, AND… (and I know this is three things, and that’s more than a couple), ENGLISH is the MOST important class you are taking this year!!!

By now you should have your first blog post complete – about winning the lottery. You should also have commented on at least three of your classmates’ blog posts. Next we read The Lottery, by Shirley Jackson. Following this, we learned about response journals, and you should now be working on a polished draft to hand in of your response journal. This is due Friday, September 20th in hard copy form.

Just a reminder that the course outline and response journal criteria are available on the “handouts” page above.

Because so many students were on the Physics 11/12 Playland trip, we used this class to work on speeches or to finish the Crucible pre-reading inquiry questions.

Just a reminder that several of you will be gone for Jazz Band on May 7th, our scheduled first day of speeches. Those of you not in Jazz Band can expect to do your speech on that day – those of you in Jazz Band will do your speech on May 9th.

We have class both Thursday and Friday this week. We will be reading Act 1 of The Crucible. To make the most of this oral reading experience, it is best if you have pre-read the material. You can expect that everyone will read aloud at some point during our study of The Crucible 🙂

For the last two classes you had the opportunity to catch up on missing assignments, finish reading the novel, and complete your final quotation response that should now be posted to your blog. The instructions for the quotation response are on my Kidblog page. Don’t forget to also comment on three of your classmates’ blog posts.

In the last week you received a list of term 3 assignments and a print-out of recorded marks so far this term. Today was the deadline for handing in those missing assignments. Don’t forget that you need to have the novel finished for Friday and your kite project is also due that day. These will be the final term 3 assignments.

Last class you worked on finishing your found poems. Remember that you are trying to use Mr. Hosseini’s words to create a poem that reflects one of three time periods in Amir’s life. Your job, as the poet, is to create the “poetic style” so that the words sound and feel like a poem you created. Your finished poems should be posted to your blog.

On Thursday you will receive a list of Term 3 assignments. I have highlighted assignments that each of you are missing. You will have until Monday, April 8th to hand in any of these missing assignments.

Last class you had the opportunity to work on your pre-reading assignment for The Kite Runner. Remember that this is due TODAY! Part one should be posted to your blog, and part two should be handed in in hard copy form.

Today we looked at some terms associated with the middle east and countries like Afghanistan. So much of what we know about this region of the world is based on stereotypes so it is good to have a better understanding. We also worked on a map of Asia.

Don’t forget that your first reading “quiz” is on Monday, and the map is due at this time as well.

We discussed dramatic monologues today. We read Dover Beach, by Mathew Arnold and discussed the elements of a dramatic monologue. We also introduced the steps to writing a good analysis of a poem. You were then give My Last Duchess, by Robert Browning to work through individually. Your first draft analysis is due at the end of Wednesday’s class. The slides from today are on the handouts page.

Today you had opportunity to finish your Canadian Poet Bio. This should be saved as a pdf and then posted as a link on your blog page.

I revised our poetry unit schedule and it is on the Handouts page. Please do not leave your final demonstration of learning until the last minute. I am expecting much better quality work than I received in your Curious Incident visual assignments – always put forth your BEST effort!

I have seen some great visual assignments heading this way! I am always so impressed by your creativity and vision. Here is an example of a visual assignment that uses Glogster – there is also a QR code attached that takes you to the site – very cool!

We finished up our responses to quotations from The Power of One today. Remember you should print out a copy of your response as well as post it to your blog. I want to have the opportunity to give you some more specific feedback on your writing mechanics.

Today I also handed out copies of the curious incident of the dog in the night-time, by Mark Haddon. I hope you will enjoy this novel as much as I do. On Monday you will receive a reading schedule and we will begin our pre-reading with some discussion about autism and Aspergers.